Online Abuse and Gender-Based Violence Against Women

[NEW] Draft JP published

The BPF's third draft has been published and can be downloaded here. Comments were accepted until 20 November and are currently being incorporated into the next outcome draft, which will be published on this platform once it is finalised.

About

The BPF provides an open and inclusive multistakeholder platform for the exchange of information on online conduct and behaviour that potentially constitute abuse of and/or gender-based violence against women and girls, with the aim of collecting and compiling a helpful resource output for communities to create a safe and enabling environment for women online to participate fully in the development of an inclusive and people-centred information society. The BPF therefore asks all stakeholders to help it address the following question:

What are effective practices and policies that address, mitigate and/or prevent online abuse and gender-based violence against women?

For more details about the BPF's proposed sub-themes, methodology and provisional timeline, see the Outline & Approach and Timeline tabs. For a comprehensive description of the BPF's methodology, see Part II of Draft JP.

The BPF's work is community-driven, bottom-up and multistakeholder. To aid the process, Jac Kee (IGF MAG member; APC) acts as lead coordinator, and Anri van der Spuy (IGF Secretariat) as rapporteur.

Outline & Approach

The BPF adopted an open, inclusive and transparent working approach with the primary aim of involving as many stakeholders as possible in order to better address the issue of online abuse and gender-based violence against women and girls.

Regular virtual meetings were scheduled using Doodle polls to encourage stakeholder participation from diverse regions. When necessary, for instance in mapping the BPF’s scope of work or encouraging input on various drafts, the BPF made use of open, editable online platforms like Etherpad, Google docs and the IGF's review platform. The BPF's mailing list was furthermore used to elicit and gather input on various aspects of the BPF's work; and social media platforms were used to encourage further participation.

In addition to gathering stakeholder input on these platforms, the BPF also designed and distributed a survey (which received 57 responses from stakeholders in 25 different countries); collected case studies from companies, individuals, civil society organizations, governments and intergovernmental organizations; and designed a social media conversation to gather more input on one aspect of the BPF's work, namely impact.

2-4 September: presentation of Draft 1 at third MAG meeting (Paris); gathering of comments and input from participants; finalisation of Draft 1.

3-30 September: input regarding Draft 1 continues to be received from all stakeholders on open and accessible, editable Google doc. Detailed analyses of survey results and case studies are done to prepare Draft 2.

5 October[DEADLINE 2]: Draft 2 is published on open review platform for comments and input from stakeholders.

5-20 October: input regarding Draft 2 is received from all stakeholders through review platform (14 days for more community input).

20-30 October: public input is reviewed by rapporteur and coordinators to prepare Draft JP.

Meeting X - Third Open Consultations and MAG meeting at UNESCO in Paris, 2-4 September 2015:

The BPF provided the MAG with an update of its progress at the upcoming meeting in Paris, and used the opportunity to work on its Draft 1, which has been produced and populated by the community during virtual meetings lasting an hour each and after consultation on the mailing list.

Join us

Due to the nature of the Internet as a distributed network of networks, addressing online abuse and gender-based violence requires considerable input and cooperation from a multitude of stakeholders, including the technical community, private sector, civil society advocates and organizations, governments, international organizations, academic community, users (male and female), and young people. The BPF therefore welcomes everyone with an interest in addressing the problem.

To participate, toin the BPF's mailing list and see the Contributions tab. The BPF's Call for Input, which was issued on 9 July 2015, can also be read for basic background information.

Contributions

[NOW CLOSED] Draft JP published

The BPF's third draft has been published and can be downloaded here. Comments were accepted until 20 November and are currently being incorporated into the next outcome draft, which will be published on this platform once it is finalised.

[OUTCOME] Read the comments on Draft II

The comment period for Draft II closed on 20 October 2015. 96 comments from 37 different contributors were accepted; all of which remain on the IGF's Review Platform (follow the link to Draft II to view these comments). The comments were analysed using a thematic analysis approach that is described in full in Draft JP, Appendix 4. This analysis includes an explanation of what actions were taken to address comments in producing Draft JP.

[NOW CLOSED] Read and comment on Draft II

We invite and welcome all input on the BPF's second draft document ('Draft II'), now published on the IGF's dedicated review platform. Draft II reflects the open, iterative and bottom-up process this BPF used to encourage participation from people in diverse regions and stakeholder groups. It reflects input gathered using a variety of methods, including a survey, frequent virtual meetings, comments on Draft I (which was published on an open and editable Google doc), responding to questions on the mailing list, and submitting case studies.

For ease of use, the document has been divided into four parts on the review platform:

All comments on Draft II will be analysed and considered to produce 'Draft JP'. The structure and content of the compilation is therefore subject to change as additional inputs, case studies and comments are received.

[NOW CLOSED] Can you contribute a case study?

The BPF aims to incorporate three types of case studies: individuals (e.g. stories of individual cases of online violence against women and the approaches taken to address the challenge); country situational reports (a brief overview of how the problem of online VAW is addressed in specific countries/ regions); and company reports (a brief report on how specific companies and intermediaries are dealing with online VAW). The aim of these case studies, which can be submitted in any format and need not adhere to any specifications, is to deepen our understanding of this complex issue.

[OUTCOME] Read BPF's synthesis document

If you would like more information about what this BPF aims to do and achieve, and how it will do this, read our synthesis document.

[NOW CLOSED] Call for input on synthesis document

We are aiming to finalise a first draft of our synthesis document, which contains the BPF work description, terms of reference, timeline, and other particulars by 26 June 2015. We welcome all input on this important document by 17:00 on Monday 22 June 2015. You can submit these proposals directly on our Google doc, or otherwise email Anri van der Spuy (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).